1997-2003 Hyundai Atoz / Kia Visto Review
1997-2003 Hyundai Atoz / Kia Visto Review
Years Produced: 1997-2003 (99-03 Visto)
Engine:
G4HA
798cc inline 4 cylinder
G4HA turbo (Visto only)
798 inline 4 cylinder (8v)
Transmission:
5 speed manual
3 speed automatic w/o converter lockup
Curb Weight: (non turbo)
799 kg (1,761 lbs)
Horsepower:
Non Turbo:
54 bhp @ 6,000 rpm
Turbo:
70 bhp @ 6,000 rpm
Torque:
Non Turbo:
52 ft-lbs @ 4,800 rpm
Turbo:
75 ft-lbs @ 4,000 rpm
0-62 mph (100 kph) non turbo
17.1 seconds (manual)
19.2 seconds (auto)
Fuel Economy Rating (1000cc):
42.3-56.4 mpg UK / 35-46.6 mpg US
6.7 - 5.0 L / 100 km
15.7 - 19.9 km/l
Observed Cambodian Fuel Economy (2003 auto):
32-45 mpg UK / 26.6-37 mpg US
8.8 - 6.3 L / 100 km
11.3 - 15.9 km/l
Competitors: 1998-2004 Daewoo Matiz)
**Disclaimer**
Unless you are a mechanic, do not buy the Visto Turbo.
It is bad idea for the reason that turbocharged vehicles can fail catastrophically in many more ways than non turbocharged vehicles as the turbocharger itself is connected to the car’s engine coolant and engine oil supply. So if one doesn’t know how to properly check if all the appropriate connections are in good condition or if the turbocharger itself is in fair condition, then it is simply opening up your ownership experience to a world of hurt and misery.
Also, turbocharged vehicles in general need a lot more attention in the maintenance department than most vehicles. Oil changes need to be more frequent and the engine’s cooling system needs to be in tip top shape in order to have a reliable vehicle.
This applies for any turbocharged vehicle.
The Visto turbo is easily distinguished by it's hood scoop
WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT FROM AN ATOZ/VISTO?
Size:
The size is unsurprisingly wonderful for crowded city driving. At just 58 inches wide, the Atoz/Visto is nearly an entire foot narrower than a subcompact Toyota Corolla. Maneuvering the car through traffic is easy and visibility all around is good as well in the Visto with it’s slanted hatch, but with the very large c-pillar in the back, the Atoz does have a considerably sized blind spot.
Interior space and headroom is generous for a car this size and offers comfort for a driver and passenger up to around 6’1” (according to a 6’1” “test driver”). However, if you the driver or passenger is tall and requires the seat to be in the “full back” position, rearseat legroom decreases to a practically useless 4 inches.
Cargo capacity is also unsurprisingly small, however is adequate for a day’s worth of shopping, even with a full load of passengers. One thing particularly useful about the Atoz/Visto are the underseat storage bins which compensate the lack of a glovebox well.
Performance:
Well 54 hp from an 800cc motor is very underwhelming to say the least. Barely edging out the slightly less powerful Matiz, the Atoz / Visto will reach 0-100 km/h just over 17 seconds with no passengers or air conditioning, and creeps north of 22 seconds when those factors come into play. Top speed is approximately 139 km/h (86 mph), which interestingly is gearing rather than drag limited. This also means that the Atoz / Visto is also 3 mph slower than the Daewoo Tico.
Off roading?
Ground clearance is fair for a car this size at 8 inches which is more than adequate for everyday potholes, speed bumps and the occasional offroad bout should the need arise. Obviously though, the Atoz/Visto is a front wheel drive supermini and not an off road monster so it’s best to take rough roads gingerly rather than with an iron fist approach.
Fuel Economy:
Of all the superminis you can buy, the Atoz / Visto is the worst. Despite the 1 liter version’s ratings of 42-56 mpg (imp) or 15.7 - 19.9 km/l, you will more than likely find your 800cc car barely topping 12 km/l (34 mpg UK / 28.2 mpg US / 8.3 L / 100 km) in the city and 17 km/l (48 mpg UK / 40 mpg US / 5.9 L / 100 km) on rural journeys. Obviously this is nowhere near the ratings for the bigger 1 liter UK version despite the .8 liter version being lighter and having a smaller displacement, nor is it very close to the typical “15 - 20 km/l” that so many sellers will be eager to tell you, but it is what you will get. This isn’t the end of the world though as you’ll see later on.
Reliability:
Minor reliability:
(Hyundai plastics are total crap and always break)
Lots of little plastic bits and accessories are going to be iffy on these cars. Door handles, power locks, etc are going to be the first things to go, which can be annoying. However, parts and repairs are cheap and easy to do, and most garages should be able to keep your Atoz/Visto happy.
Major Reliability:
(Hyundai drivetrains are solid units and very reliable)
The motors and transmission of these cars are built with the same materials and come from the same factory as the U.S. market cars which mean that they are very durable not only for a cheap car, but for any car. It’s true that the oil seals, minor gaskets and such are of slightly lower grade than comparable Japanese built vehicles, but when it comes to design flaws or crucial internal components, the Atoz / Visto are probably the best for any supermini you’re going to get here.
The only potential weak spot is the transmission as Hyundais do like to burn out their gearboxes if they don’t receive periodic fluid changes (at least every 50-60k km) However, if you plan to purchase an Atoz or Visto, check to see if it shifts smoothly and if it does, then keep clean oil in it and you’ll have a reliable car for a long time to come.
IF YOU OWN A VISTO/ATOZ:
Camshaft/Timing Belt: If you're car has over 100-120k km (60-70k miles) which is probably all of them, get the cam belt, water pump, tensioner, camshaft/crankshaft seals changed, along with the valve cover gasket, oil pan gasket, plugs and wires, ALL with Korean replacements if possible. They are available new and usually in stock. The cam belt is the most important along with the seals and tensioner because Korean parts are in the middle of the range of quality and are usually only good for 160,000 km at the most, which when compared to other vehicles on the market is quite good still. If the cam belt goes on this car, bad news.
Automatic transmission oil: Any automatic transmission is going to need a fresh supply of clean oil, but with my experience with Hyundai automatic gearboxes from this ear, I find it particularly important to keep them freshly changed. Dexron II or III is fine and the car takes approximately 6.5 litres per complete exchange (2.5 - 3 litres per drain and fill).
Engine oil seals: When I purchased my first Visto with 110,000 km, it was leaking a litre of oil every 200 km. If your Atoz or Visto has any oil leaks, it’s best to address them early on as the car only holds 3 litres of engine oil.
Summary:
Pros:
-Decent fuel economy for decent power
-Reliable drivetrain if maintained properly
-Plenty of parts available for repairs and maintenance
-Easy to drive in a crowded area
Cons:
-Expect a lot of minor annoyances like oil leaks and plastics like door handles breaking off
-Easy to get pushed off the road by larger vehicles
-Premium fuel required (vs. the Daewoo Matiz or Tico)
Final Verdict
While far from being the perfect supermini in theory, for cheap fuel efficient Cambodian personal commuting it is hard to beat.
Information:
(800cc non turbo only)
Capacities:
Engine Oil:
2.9 liters (3.1 liters with filter change)
10W-30 or 10W-40 recommended
20W-50 works, but significant mileage drop was noted
Transmission Fluid
(Automatic) 6.5 liters, Dexron II
(Manual) unknown, fluid spec unknown
Brake Fluid:
DOT-3 minimum requirement
300 ml capacity approx.
Coolant:
3.7 liters approx.
Ignition Timing:
19 degrees BTDC
Firing Order: 1-3-4-2 (#1 cyl being the timing belt side)
Standard Tire Size: 155/70/13
Reckless driving cucumber - 成
Superb. Thanks Akira.
I'll probably buy one of these at some point.
I'll probably buy one of these at some point.
pew, pew, pew, pew!
^^Admittedly, I enjoyed mine quite a bit although I didn't like the rev happy 4 banger all that much. Not a bad car at all in my opinion and cheap enough as well.
Reckless driving cucumber - 成
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Can you shed light on why the cars are imported here. For example in the states engines are imported from Japan all with around 60,000 mi as we are told that in Japan there is some sort of environmental rule . My neighbor imports large trucks like 10 ton dump trucks and the like all with around 200,000 mi so I'm wondering if the used cars imported are all high mileage or wrecks.
i'm the one who has to die when it's time for me to die, so let me live my life the way i want to
^^First off, there whole "rule" in Japan is bollocks as there's no such mileage limitation. If there was, my old Mitsubishi would have needed 6 engine replacements by the time I had purchased it, but it was on it's original engine. Japan's emissions standards are actually lower than the U.S. with certain areas (NOx I believe, but have to double check) which is why the U.S. doesn't allow Japanese car imports without EPA certifications and what not. It's also why Japanese cars produce more power per litre than U.S. spec cars because emissions standards are less strict.
I believe that myth is perpetuated by the importers to sell their stuff off to unsuspecting customers and fabricated from the fact that Japanese cars over 10 years old need a new registration every year vs. once every 2 or 3 years like newer cars. Because the maintenance and upkeep of older cars usually totals them quickly, there are a lot fewer cars over 10 years old on the road and therefore a surplus of cars headed for the scrap heap. i.e. I used to drive a Daihatsu Mira (94) that I bought for $75 because it had an exhaust leak. Car had over 200,000 km on it, but with a little welding the car was back on the road and I used it without issue afterwards. Had to pay to get rid of it though because no one would buy it afterwards.
Either or, I can only shed light on how some Korean and American cars are imported (later post maybe), but very little on German and other countries imports. Suffice to say though, most of the stuff here is going to be the worst possible condition (cheapest) and then polished up to look better. The only good cars that are going to be available that are decent are those who have brought their own vehicles in and have documentation on their car from the country of origin.
I believe that myth is perpetuated by the importers to sell their stuff off to unsuspecting customers and fabricated from the fact that Japanese cars over 10 years old need a new registration every year vs. once every 2 or 3 years like newer cars. Because the maintenance and upkeep of older cars usually totals them quickly, there are a lot fewer cars over 10 years old on the road and therefore a surplus of cars headed for the scrap heap. i.e. I used to drive a Daihatsu Mira (94) that I bought for $75 because it had an exhaust leak. Car had over 200,000 km on it, but with a little welding the car was back on the road and I used it without issue afterwards. Had to pay to get rid of it though because no one would buy it afterwards.
Either or, I can only shed light on how some Korean and American cars are imported (later post maybe), but very little on German and other countries imports. Suffice to say though, most of the stuff here is going to be the worst possible condition (cheapest) and then polished up to look better. The only good cars that are going to be available that are decent are those who have brought their own vehicles in and have documentation on their car from the country of origin.
Reckless driving cucumber - 成
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Seems like the scam is still going on
from the web site http://www.enginesus.com
Where do We Get Them?
Owning and operating a car in Japan is very expensive. Japan is a small country made up of several islands. It has a great public transportation system and very strict smog laws. Compliance with these laws by mandatory inspections can cost as much as 30% of the value of the car. An average parking space in Japan can cost $700.00 a month, more in cities. Gasoline costs 3-4 times what we pay for it. Cars are used mostly on weekends or daily to get to a train station. Cars with any body damage are considered unsafe by authorities and cannot be used. Labor is very expensive, so many cars with minor body damage and perfect low mileage engines end up getting recycled. And Japanese citizens have a propensity for owning and driving only the latest model cars. It’s a point of national pride for them. There are very few running cars in Japan over 6 years old. These conditions result in Japanese car owners not driving very much. The average life of a Japanese vehicle in mileage is between 30-40 thousand miles! In the USA we drive our cars 150,000 miles or more. (I have a customer with 325,000 miles on her 87 Honda Prelude SI!) So the engines and transmissions are removed from cars in Japan and shipped to us by ocean container. When the container arrives here, we unload the engines & transmissions. Then we inspect and test them. We do a leak down test, compression test, and oil pressure test. Those that successfully pass this quality control procedure are then high pressure washed. We then put them on pallets and secure them with bands and shrink wrap. Now they are ready to be shipped to customers throughout the United States. We have the ultimate recycling business!
Thank you for visiting the About ENGINESUS Low Mileage Japanese Engine page.
~ Bob
from the web site http://www.enginesus.com
Where do We Get Them?
Owning and operating a car in Japan is very expensive. Japan is a small country made up of several islands. It has a great public transportation system and very strict smog laws. Compliance with these laws by mandatory inspections can cost as much as 30% of the value of the car. An average parking space in Japan can cost $700.00 a month, more in cities. Gasoline costs 3-4 times what we pay for it. Cars are used mostly on weekends or daily to get to a train station. Cars with any body damage are considered unsafe by authorities and cannot be used. Labor is very expensive, so many cars with minor body damage and perfect low mileage engines end up getting recycled. And Japanese citizens have a propensity for owning and driving only the latest model cars. It’s a point of national pride for them. There are very few running cars in Japan over 6 years old. These conditions result in Japanese car owners not driving very much. The average life of a Japanese vehicle in mileage is between 30-40 thousand miles! In the USA we drive our cars 150,000 miles or more. (I have a customer with 325,000 miles on her 87 Honda Prelude SI!) So the engines and transmissions are removed from cars in Japan and shipped to us by ocean container. When the container arrives here, we unload the engines & transmissions. Then we inspect and test them. We do a leak down test, compression test, and oil pressure test. Those that successfully pass this quality control procedure are then high pressure washed. We then put them on pallets and secure them with bands and shrink wrap. Now they are ready to be shipped to customers throughout the United States. We have the ultimate recycling business!
Thank you for visiting the About ENGINESUS Low Mileage Japanese Engine page.
~ Bob
i'm the one who has to die when it's time for me to die, so let me live my life the way i want to
^^I can't count the amount of times that people have begged me to send them stuff from Japan, only for me to have to try and show them that the whole thing was a sham and that by far the best option is to buy a used engine in the U.S. and swap it in. U.S. factory build standards are very high, as are their materials standards, so there's nothing wrong with buying something used as long as it checks out. Done it for friends many times.
To make things worse though re: myth, most of those engines that "come from Japan" are not Japanese at all because the Japanese ECUs/tuning maps for the JDM market are incompatible with the U.S. spec cars (after all, many Japanese cars don't have the U.S. emissions controls on them or even the available ports to install the controls, so there is no way for the ECU to properly run the engine without significant modification, splicing etc. Google SR20 engine swaps for example (engine found both in the U.S. and Japanese Nissans) to see what I'm on about, and you'll very quickly find it's not a simple swap over, even if the car is of the same year and similar make. i.e. A Nissan Premera with an SR20 will not swap directly into an SR20 powered Infiniti G20 for the reasons listed above. Even swapping a USDM KA24 engine from a 91' Nissan pickup to a 90' Nissan pickup is not a straightforward process.
And then of course, there's the whole fact that many Japanese cars use a completely different engine altogether than their American counterparts (Honda 1.3 engines are the norm in Japan, but non existent on the standard U.S. car..they're all 1.8 or 2.0s), so there's no engines available anyway... I could go on and on.
Oh well, it's all about the foreign exotic factor. Japanese suffer from it too, I had a neighbor who bought a Vauxhall Cavalier and showed it off like it was the newest latest greatest epitome of British engineering. I think it was a basic 1.4? petrol manual version and 5 years old.
I really do one of these days want to do some kind of youtube video to sound the alarm, but seems how I doubt many people would listen to me (as most of my friends went and bought "JDM" engines anyway), I don't know if it would do much good.
Anyway, on topic, the Kia and Hyundais from S. Korea I've often found are extremely cheap to buy even as used clean cars with relatively low mileage. I went shopping 6 months ago or so (because I was considering importing cars from Korea) and found that Vistos could be had for $500-600 USD in clean condition (way better than anything I've seen in Cambodia), and shipping a container full of them (5 to a container) would be around $2,200 USD I was quoted. After all is said and done, the car would be around $3,100-$3,500 after taxes were paid and could be sold for around $4k (because of the "Immaculate" condition they are in). So, in theory at least, it's possible to obtain a Korean market car that hasn't been a total wreck and is in decent mechanical condition.
To make things worse though re: myth, most of those engines that "come from Japan" are not Japanese at all because the Japanese ECUs/tuning maps for the JDM market are incompatible with the U.S. spec cars (after all, many Japanese cars don't have the U.S. emissions controls on them or even the available ports to install the controls, so there is no way for the ECU to properly run the engine without significant modification, splicing etc. Google SR20 engine swaps for example (engine found both in the U.S. and Japanese Nissans) to see what I'm on about, and you'll very quickly find it's not a simple swap over, even if the car is of the same year and similar make. i.e. A Nissan Premera with an SR20 will not swap directly into an SR20 powered Infiniti G20 for the reasons listed above. Even swapping a USDM KA24 engine from a 91' Nissan pickup to a 90' Nissan pickup is not a straightforward process.
And then of course, there's the whole fact that many Japanese cars use a completely different engine altogether than their American counterparts (Honda 1.3 engines are the norm in Japan, but non existent on the standard U.S. car..they're all 1.8 or 2.0s), so there's no engines available anyway... I could go on and on.
Oh well, it's all about the foreign exotic factor. Japanese suffer from it too, I had a neighbor who bought a Vauxhall Cavalier and showed it off like it was the newest latest greatest epitome of British engineering. I think it was a basic 1.4? petrol manual version and 5 years old.
I really do one of these days want to do some kind of youtube video to sound the alarm, but seems how I doubt many people would listen to me (as most of my friends went and bought "JDM" engines anyway), I don't know if it would do much good.
Anyway, on topic, the Kia and Hyundais from S. Korea I've often found are extremely cheap to buy even as used clean cars with relatively low mileage. I went shopping 6 months ago or so (because I was considering importing cars from Korea) and found that Vistos could be had for $500-600 USD in clean condition (way better than anything I've seen in Cambodia), and shipping a container full of them (5 to a container) would be around $2,200 USD I was quoted. After all is said and done, the car would be around $3,100-$3,500 after taxes were paid and could be sold for around $4k (because of the "Immaculate" condition they are in). So, in theory at least, it's possible to obtain a Korean market car that hasn't been a total wreck and is in decent mechanical condition.
Reckless driving cucumber - 成
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